Lost Coast Adventure Trail 2017

Discover the Northern Coast of California

June 4th - June 10th

Join us for an Adventure motorcycle ride to explore the Pacific Ocean and Coastal Mountains of Northern California. In a single day you can ride through mountain passes, dense redwood forests, grassy rolling hills, coastal cliffs and sprawling vineyards – all on roads that seem like they were made for motorcycles. We might be biased, but we think there is no better place to ride a motorcycle than in our own backyard.

Humboldt County has what some call the best bike riding in the state and hundreds of miles of roads that display the tallest trees in the world and the longest stretch of wild coast in the lower 48. And unlike the packed back roads near the cities, the traffic is pleasantly light.

About this ride

This is an 7 day adventure motorcycle ride around Northern California. The ride starts in San Francisco and makes a big loop around the Northern Coastal Mountains. Each evening we will be staying in hotels and eating in local restaurants. This ride is designed for experienced riders on larger adventure bikes. There is no support vehicle so riders will need to carry their own gear on their bikes. The weather this time of year is most often great, but it can change and affect the routes we take. Riders need to carry gear to be prepared for cold and rain. Just in case.

I know many of you also enjoy dreaming about the ride and making your plans, so here is the detail, enjoy!

Google Document

Google Document

Signup info:

The cost to join this 7 day ride is $795. This covers your lodging for the 7 nights during the ride and all the ride information and custom GPS cards, files and maps.

Refund Policy

Do not sign up for this ride unless you are serious about coming. I take your signup very seriously and start planning for you the minute you sign up. If you need to cancel up to one month prior to the ride start date I will give you a full refund but I will keep $100 to cover the planning work. Sorry but I make non refundable commitments myself so it gets hard for me. "I hate this world of non refundable deals myself." If you need to cancel within one month of the ride I cannot give a refund unless I can find a replacement rider. In the case of finding a replacement rider, I will gladly give you the full refund minus the $100 to cover the planning work. In the event of ride cancellation, you will be given a full refund.

View the ride maps

OK since many of you like to study more detail about the ride, below are the ride maps.

I put these ride maps on the web page because I know a few of you love looking at the ride detail and dreaming about the ride. At first glance these maps do not look so impressive, but they are way cool. If you start zooming in, you can see the ride in incredible detail. I have spent a ton of hours sorting through the details of the ride for each day, so for those of you that enjoy this sort of thing, well enjoy!

Legend:

The Blue lines are MAIN routes

The Red lines are Harder routes

The Green lines are Easy options

The Black lines are the out and back viewpoints

Google Map

I did an explorer's roulette to discover some of the cool places here a couple of years ago. Below is the video from that ride. While I have developed this into an Adventure bike ride there is still a lot in this video that is the same for this upcoming ride

YouTube Video

Enjoy my old video.

FAQ's

Q: What bikes are good for this ride?

A: Almost any Adventure bike can work well. The routes have options suited for bikes from the Vstrom to the 1190 Adventure.

Not recommended are dual sport bikes unless you are ok with a lot of back pavement.

Q: What gas distance range should my bike have?

A: I would suggest that on some days you carry enough fuel to make 150 miles due to the fact that sometimes the route can have issues and it is good to have a little margin.

Q: What is the total distance of this ride?

A: Total ride distance is 1,300 miles and can vary by your personal route choice options.

Q: What are motel room arrangements?

A: Rooms are double occupancy, meaning each rider shares a two queen bed room with another rider.

Q: How does the ride navigation work?

This is a self-led GPS ride; all riding is on your own. You are responsible for your own riding. You will be given a GPS map file and instructions on how to use your Garmin GPS unit. People will hook up in small groups of less than 6 riders and tend to ride together. You are not encouraged to ride alone. You are responsible for your own riding and yourself.

A: Yes, but everyone hooks up and rides with a friend, or a new friend or me.

Q: Will I do this ride again next year?

A: No, sorry, I hardly ever repeat rides as I love to develop and discover new places and rides each season. And I have a long dream list of rides now. So this is likely the only time for this ride. Remember: Every time we say no to a ride that is one less ride in life.

Q: Do I need insurance?

A: Yes, you must carry proof of medical insurance and liability insurance for yourself/motorcycle.

Q: Would this be a good ride for new riders?

A: No, this ride is for intermediate and experienced riders only. The riding has easy route choices and tough route options. Each evening we will study the following day's choices. You will find lots of supportive people at the ride.

Are you right for this ride?

When something goes wrong on a ride, would your riding friends say that you are more likely to need help or more likely to give help? You should be in the more likely to offer help camp. This ride is filled with riders that are more likely to give help, so most of the time the riders never need help. Additionally there is all the normal stuff: come prepared to maintain your bike, fix your bike on the trail, repair flat tires, deal with bad weather and rain and make a joke or two.